Secrets
by DarkRonin117
Summary: Squall and his new protege, Jace, investigate a murder at Garden, but Jace has his own secrets. Secrets he doesnt want anyone else to know. PG for now, but may go up later for language.
1. Prologue

Balamb Garden was always quiet in the middle of the night. There was never anyone around. But this night was different. A man quietly crept through the entrance of the main building and made his way around the main room towards the dormitory. He padded silently through the cold stone corridor, using the shadows as cover whenever one of the Garden Faculty members, the night watchmen, came near him. He made his down the corridors, looking at the room numbers until he found the one he wanted. He touched the sensor pad and the door whirred open. He crept in, using the dark shadows as a cloak, and made his way to the bed in the corner of the room. As he made his way, around the clothed and other things littering the floor, he pulled a knife out from the small of his back. He reached the bed and slowly pulled back the covers. He smiled when he saw the man still sleeping on the mattress. He raised the knife and swept it across the man's throat. The blood ran freely across the sheets, and started pooling on the floor. Satisfied, the killer turned and walked out of the room, leaving the now dead man to the night.  
  
I hope no one hates this, but if you do, then go jump cos I don't care. This chapter may a little short, but don't worry, the chapters get a little longer. Please R n R. Thanks. 


	2. A Murder in Garden

Squall Leonhart, headmaster of Balamb Garden, stormed through the corridor leading to the dormitory.  
  
"Glad you could make it, boss," said a man when Squall entered the dormitory room.  
  
"Be quiet Jace," said Squall. Jace Thompson, SeeD First Class, smirked, then got down to business.  
  
"Okay, so what do we have here?" asked Squall. Jace turned and looked at the body lying on the bed.  
  
"This guy is Karlos Jackson, a SeeD who graduated in the same class as me."  
  
"Did you know him?"  
  
"Only a little," replied Jace. "But anyway, he became an instructor a few years later, in he field of medical care, as it were." Squall smiled grimly.  
  
"Someone seems to have a weird sense of irony," he said. "How did he die?"  
  
"Well, when he missed his class this morning, someone came to check on him. Found him lying on his bed with his throat cut."  
  
"Any ideas who did it?" asked Squall, moving over to examine the body himself.  
  
"Quistis is checking for people who had something against him. She knows the students well, she should find something."  
  
"Good work," said Squall to the SeeD.  
  
"Okay, so what do we do now, my illustrious mentor?" asked Jace. Squall looked at his protégé, smiling.  
  
"We wait until Quistis finds something, then go after them."  
  
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Quistis sat poring over the documents littering her desk, brushing her hair out of her face every ten seconds.  
  
"You know, you should really that cut," said Zell as he walked into the room.  
  
"Probably," said Quistis, not looking up. "What do you want?"  
  
"Squall wants to know if you've found anything yet." Quistis looked up at Zell with an icy cool expression.  
  
"Tell Squall that as I'm working through the entire school, it might take some time." Zell grinned sheepishly, then turned around.  
  
"I'll leave you alone then, shall I?" Quistis smiled at Zell's disappearing back, then went back to the documents.  
  
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Irvine Kinneas, sharp shooting legend of Balamb Garden, stood silently in the training center, waiting for the monster in front of him to attack. The gigantic T-Rexaur, one of the deadliest monsters in Garden, took a step back when Irvine aimed his rifle, the Exeter, at him, then took at step forward. Irvine smiled, then fired one of his pulse bullets at the creature. Electricity flared out as the bullet hit the dinosaur-like creature, then the area of impact flared out and made a gaping hole in the monster's chest. The T-Rexaur groaned, then dropped to the ground, knocking Irvine slightly off balance.  
  
"One shot, not bad," said a female voice behind him. Irvine spun and gve his best smile to her.  
  
"Sonya Leonhart, you get cuter everyday," he said. Sonya smiled.  
  
"Irvine, you aren't that charming to me."  
  
"That's your father's fault, said Irvine, stepping forward to give his goddaughter a hug in greeting. "Squall said if I try to charm you too much, he'd do something to me that no male wants done." Sonya laughed, then walked past Irvine to the dead monster.  
  
"Bored, Irvine?" she asked as she kicked the monster.  
  
"Nah, I just haven't done any training for a while." Irvine stepped forward and grabbed Sonya's shoulder.  
  
"Come on, you hungry?" Sonya nodded, a smile on her face. "Good, so am I. Let's g get something to eat."  
  
"You go ahead. I have something I want to do first," said Sonya.  
  
"Okay." Irvine kissed Sonya on the forehead and walked off. She turned and started walking around the simulated forest. She heard a growl behind her, and spun around to find a Behemoth walking up to her. She cocked her head in curiosity, then stepped forward. The Behemoth roared, then moved forward quickly to gore Sonya with its huge horns. The beast pushed it's head out when it got near her, but Sonya jumped into the air with the skill of an acrobat and landed on the Behemoth's head, then ran down to it's back. She stretched her arms out to the side, and two daggers shot out into her waiting hands. She then dug them into the purple monsters neck, making green blood spray everywhere. She pulled the blades out, then jumped back onto its head. Suddenly, the monster shook its head, making Sonya go flying off. She landed hard on her side, cutting herself on a sharp rock. She sat up and shook her head, then remembered the Behemoth. She looked up just in time to see a grey blur go flying past the monster's face. Then blood erupted out of the things head and it started screaming in agony. The blur came back, and flew past its face again, making more blood flow out of it. The behemoth then fell to the ground, completely lifeless. Sonya got up and looked around, but could not find the grey blur.  
  
"Jace!" she yelled angrily. "Get out here!" Jace, a very sheepish look on his face, walked out from behind a tree, cleaning the purple blood off his sword.  
  
"Come on, Jace. How often do I get to find a behemoth in here?"  
  
"About, one in a hundred?" said Jace, knowing he was in trouble with her.  
  
"Don't be a smartass," said Sonya.  
  
"Come one, you could congratulate me on killing a Behemoth in two shots." Sonya glared at him. "Sorry. I just don't see what I did wrong."  
  
"I could've taken care of it," replied Sonya, walking over to her knives and putting them back in there sheathes. Jace walked over to her, putting his sword away, and wrapped his grey covered arms around Sonya's waist.  
  
"I know you could've," he said quietly. "But I wasn't going to take the chance that you may have missed. You know I couldn't live without you." Sonya turned around and stared into Jace's intense green eyes.  
  
"I know," she said, leaning up to kiss the taller man. When they broke apart, Sonya moved over to a large rock, a little breathless, and sat down.  
  
"So, found anything about that murder yet?" she asked when Jace sat down next to her.  
  
"Not yet. We have to wait until Quistis is through checking out motives." Sonya noticed the look in Jace's eyes, and decided to ask a question that had been bugging her for a while.  
  
"What happened to your eyes?" she asked.  
  
"What makes you think anything happened to my eyes?" replied Jace, a cocky smile passing his face.  
  
"What makes you think you can answer a question with a question? Seriously, they look different to any other pair of eyes I've ever seen." Jace looked at her for a minute, then shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Okay. I'll yell you. It—," Jace stopped when his cell phone started ringing. "Yeah?"  
  
"Jace," came Squall's voice from the phone. "We've found something. Come here right now."  
  
"Gotcha," said Jace. He cut the connection then put his phone away. "I gotta go," he said to Sonya. She nodded  
  
"It's alright. I have to meet Irvine anyway." She kissed him on the cheek, then motioned for him to go. He gave her one of his cockiest smiles, then jogged off. Sonya watched him go, then walked over to the entrance herself to go meet Irvine. 


	3. Girls Girls Girls

"What've you got?" asked Jace as he entered Squall's office.  
  
"Quistis found an ex-member of Garden who had a vendetta against Jackson," replied Squall, getting up from his desk and walking over to a filing cabinet in the corner. He opened it a took out a file, then tossed it to Jace. Jace opened it up and had a look.  
  
"Tony Hernandez, huh? I think I remember him. He was worse than Siefer Almasy," he said, his eyes seeming to get a little brighter.  
  
"I wouldn't go that far," Said Squall. "He didn't become an enemy of the world, but he was pretty bad."  
  
"Didn't he try to go on a killing spree before he left?" asked Jace. Squall nodded.  
  
"Yep. He was sent to Bayview Mental Hospital after he was caught. Guess ho caught him."  
  
"Jackson?"  
  
"You got it," said Squall.  
  
"But, he's in the loony bin. How the hell could he get in here?"  
  
"Apparently, he broke out of the hospital a few days ago." Squall gave Jace a strange look. "I'm surprised you haven't heard. You normally listen to the new very chance you get." Jace shrugged.  
  
"I've been a little busy." Squall stared at him for a couple more seconds, then looked back to the file.  
  
"So now we have someone who we can't account for, and who has a crystal-cut motive."  
  
"How do we find him?" asked Jace.  
  
"We check out all the places he used to hang out." Squall walked over to the corner and grabbed his worn leather jacket. "Let's go."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Wow, you are hungry," said Irvine as he watched Sonya wolf down hot dog after hot dog. "You could challenge Zell's record." Soya stopped eating and looked at Irvine.  
  
"I haven't had anything to eat all day, I'm a little peckish."  
  
"So I noticed. Why haven't you eaten?" Sonya gave him a funny look.  
  
"I probably wasn't hungry. You know, when you don't feel like eating?" Irvine laughed, then put a serious look back on his face.  
  
"I'm serious. Are you sure there isn't anything wrong?"  
  
"There's nothing," said Sonya.  
  
"You know I don't mean to pry. Are you sure there's nothing wrong between you and Jace?" Sonya's mouth dropped open.  
  
"How did you know about us? Not even my father knows about that!" Irvine laughed.  
  
"Sonya, you're talking to the biggest womanizer in the country. I know when two people are going out."  
  
"If you're so good, then how come you and Selphie broke up?" Irvine gave her a hurt look. "Okay you impressed me," she said. "But there's nothing wrong." Irvine nodded.  
  
"You'd tell me if there was something, wouldn't you?" he asked.  
  
"Well, if I didn't, you'd probably find out exactly what happened just by looking at the color of my hair." Irvine smiled, then nodded.  
  
"Okay. You can go back to your meal now."  
  
"Thank you," said Sonya, a hot dog already halfway up to her mouth.  
  
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"Oh, now this is a charming place," remarked Jace as he stepped out of the car in front of  
  
"Girls, Girls, Girls", the dirtiest pornographic theatre in Deling City.  
  
"Welcome to Deling City's dark side," said Squall with a hint of a smile on his face.  
  
"Hernandez is supposed to be in here?" asked Jace. "I don't think a Galbadian soldier would be caught in here." Squall laughed, then walked into the entrance. He walked right up to the counter, which was covered with posters of girls strutting their stuff, and pulled out a photo, which he showed to the man standing behind it.  
  
"You ever seen this guy?" asked Squall. The man behind the counter brushed his greasy long hair out of his face, then peered at the picture.  
  
"Nope," he said in a creaky voice. "Never seen him before." Jace walked up to the counter, making sure the man behind the counter didn't see him.  
  
"I hate this part," said Squall quietly, taking out his wallet. He took out a fifty-dollar note and placed it on the counter. "Seen him yet?" The man's hand shot out and took the note, then nodded his head.  
  
"Yeah, he comes in all the time."  
  
"Seen him recently?" asked Squall.  
  
"I can't remember." Squall put another fifty on the counter. The man immediately grabbed it.  
  
"Yeah. He came in a couple of nights ago."  
  
"Do you know where he might be now?" asked Squall.  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"I'm getting sick of this," said Jace quietly to Squall. He walked out from behind Squall, and watched the man's jaw drop. "Tell my friend what he wants to know, Charlie," he said.  
  
"Uh, yes, of course, Mr. Gerardo. Uh, what was it you wanted to know, kind sir?" said the man, his whole body shaking.  
  
"Okay," said Squall, not quite sure what Jace had done to the man. "Do you know where he might be?"  
  
"He uh, might be in the Deling City Hotel. I heard he's been going out with one of the bartenders there."  
  
"Anywhere else he might be?" asked Jace.  
  
"Uh, try the weapons shop. He said he something about an arsenal, sir, Mr. Gerardo sir."  
  
"Thanks. Now I think it'd be a good idea if you left town for a little while." The man nodded emphatically.  
  
"Yes sir, of course, sir." The man then got out from behind the counter, and bolted out the door.  
  
"Jace. I have a question for you," said Squall as they walked out of the theatre. Jace immediately held out his hand.  
  
"Don't ask."  
  
"Jace if it's something I should know then—,"  
  
"Just don't!" said Jace forcefully. "I'll tell you when you need to know." He then moved over to the car and hopped in. "You coming?"  
  
"Yeah," said Squall.  
  
"Where do we go first?" asked Jace, seemingly back to normal.  
  
"Hotel, first, then the Weapons shop."  
  
"Gotcha." Jace started the car with a roar, and drove off down the street.  
  
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The man with the greasy hair ran to a payphone three blocks away from the theatre. He dialed a number.  
  
"Jimmy? Yeah, it's Charlie. He's back, man!" Charlie glanced wildly around the street. "No, I just talked to him! Gerardo's back!" 


	4. Hotel Fight

"You know, this place seems to get darker every time I see it," said Squall as he and Jace entered the Deling City Hotel's dimly lit lobby.  
  
"Pretty perky place, isn't it?" remarked Jace.  
  
"May I help you?" asked the receptionist sweetly from behind the counter. Jace smiled and walked over to her.  
  
"Yes you may," he said. He held up the photo of Hernandez. "You ever seen this guy?" The young woman looked at the photo with a smile on her face. When she saw the picture, however, the smile dropped off her face and she pushed it away.  
  
"I've never seen him before," she said in an icy voice. Jace looked closely at the woman.  
  
"Something tells me that you lying. Am I right?" The woman glared at Jace, then flopped into the desk chair behind her, all the hatred gone from her face.  
  
"Alright. Yes, you're right. I was lying. I do know that sneaky little bastard."  
  
"Sounds you don't really like him at the moment," remarked Squall, stepping up beside Jace.  
  
"You!" said the lady with excitement. "You're famous here! Come in, come in!" Squall turned to Jace with a smile.  
  
"Guess being famous has some perks." He turned back to the lady. "I might just do that, but for now, I'd like for you to give us some information."  
  
"Alright, what do you want to know about him? What's he done now?"  
  
"First, I'd like to know your name."  
  
"Tanya," replied the woman.  
  
"Okay, Tanya, we just need to know where he is," said Jace. The woman looked down at her lap, then back up at Jace.  
  
"I don't know where he is, I haven't seen him for a few days."  
  
"Did you know that he escaped from a mental asylum a few days ago?" Tanya looked at Jace in shock.  
  
"That's where he was? That bastard told me he was in the Caribbean! I should've known he was lying!" She sent her arms angrily across her desk and sent a huge pile of paper flying into a wall.  
  
"Easy," said Jace. "Is there anything you can tell us that might help?" "Yeah. He told me he got a hotel a couple of nights ago in Balamb, something about liking the school."  
  
"I thought you didn't know where he was," said Tanya. "He told me after he'd changed the place where he was. He called me on the phone to tell me."  
  
"Do you know why?" asked Squall.  
  
"No idea," replied Tanya. She suddenly looked at Jace. "Do I know you?"  
  
"I doubt it," said Jace, turning his head away.  
  
"No, I'm sure I met you when I was going out with Tony."  
  
"No! You don't know me and I don't know you!" said Jace, walking out of the room. The woman moved back a little.  
  
"I'm sure I know him," she said to Squall.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm sure he just—," Squall's statement was cut off by a loud crash.  
  
"Squall! Company!" shouted Jace from the outside. Squall took out his Lionheart gunblade and ran outside, his age not slowing him down one bit. He reached the street and found Jace moving backwards, parrying attack after attack from five people at the one time. Squall turned and found five more rushing towards him. He brought up his gunblade as one of the men threw a knife at him. Squall knocked it into his hand, then threw it back at the man, who dropped to the ground. The others quickly surrounded him, but he fought his way through. Jace meanwhile, was attacking his assailants in a blurred frenzy. With every hit that he took, his eyes glowed brighter and brighter. Suddenly, one of his attackers, using a whip, hit him in the face, and Jace dropped to the ground, his body quivering. He screwed his eyes up and started screaming in pain. Suddenly, he stopped, and got to his feet, his eyes still closed. His attackers, who had stopped when he started screaming, laughed at the foolishness of Jace having closed eyes, and moved forward. Suddenly, Jace opened his eyes and flames erupted out of them, which quickly made his hair catch fire. Jace growled, and lunged forward, catching his first attacker in the chest with his sword. He then spun and used his momentum to throw the dead man into another attacker, and kept going until he had hacked his way through a third. The other two attacked at the same time, and Jace jumped into the air and kicked them both, one foot at each man, and knocked them flying into the wall of the hotel. Squall and his attackers has stopped to watch the events unfold, as they were caught by surprise when Jace ran at them and attacked, taking out all four remaining men in less than three seconds. Squall stared at Jace as he stood motionless, then dropped to his knees. The flames slowly died out, and Squall moved over to touch his friend on the shoulder.  
  
"You alright?" asked Squall, wanting to find out what had happened to him.  
  
"Yeah," said Jace, standing up slowly. Jace turned around and his face became cocky again. "We have to move. Someone knows what we're doing, and they sent these assholes after us. We have to be quick." Squall nodded.  
  
"Let's go," he said. "We need to go back to Garden for tonight. Things took a little longer than I expected. We'll get back to this in the morning." Jace nodded and headed to the car. 


	5. Bad Dream

Squall walked into his office, a little unnerved by what had happened in Deling City. He sat at his desk, trying to figure out what had happened to Jace, but was interrupted by a knock at his door.  
  
"Come in," he said. Rinoa came quietly through the door and walked over to her husband.  
  
"Coming to bed soon?" she asked. Squall smiled.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be there in a little bit. I just have some extra paperwork to do." Rinoa smiled at him, knowing he was lying, but kissed him and went to bed without saying anything. He was going back to thinking again, when he was interrupted by another knock.  
  
"Come in," he said a little testily. The door opened again, and Sonya walked inside. "Hi," he said, getting up out of the seat.  
  
"Hi, dad," said Sonya, moving over to give her father a hug. "How are you?"  
  
"A little tired," said Squall, smiling, "But that comes from old age. You?"  
  
"Not bad. I just can't sleep." Squall looked at his daughter, almost exactly the spitting image of her mother, if not for the brown hair she had inherited from her father.  
  
"Anything wrong?" he asked. Sonya shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Not really. I just haven't been able to sleep the last few days."  
  
"So you said. Anything you wanted?" asked Squall.  
  
"I just hoped you were having another bout of insomnia. We could stay up all night and talk." Squall smiled.  
  
"I think you're in luck. I haven't slept in the past three days." He took her arm and the two went for a walk. "Anything you wanted to talk about?"  
  
"Jace."  
  
"Strange topic, talking about my partner. Anything you waned to know about him?" Sonya shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Is there anything you know about him? Like, anything that could be dangerous?" Squall's mind flashed back to the events earlier, when Jace's head had erupted in flames.  
  
"Nothing you need to know about. Why?" Sonya turned and walked to the second story deck, and walked out into the night.  
  
"Dad, I have something to tell you." Squall moved next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Jace and I, we've been going out for the past two months." Squall nodded.  
  
"Okay," he said.  
  
"Doesn't it shock you at all that I've been keeping this from you for two months?" Squall laughed.  
  
"Not really. I picked up on it after you two were going out for about a week. It's pretty easy to pick. God knows I found out the hard way." Sonya laughed.  
  
"Yeah, I heard about how you and Mom met." Squall joined in the laughter and the two of them stayed out on the deck, watching the stars until the sun came up.  
  
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Jace walked slowly through the dark, grimy streets of Deling City that were overflowing with people, his weapon in his hand. He made his way through the throng, looking for someone, but not entirely sure who. He stopped for a second, and scanned the street, hoping to get some idea of what he was searching for.  
  
"There he is!" shouted a voice from behind him. Jace spun around, but the street had somehow become completely empty.  
  
"Where?" came another voice. Jace spun around again, and suddenly, standing right in front of him, was Charlie, the man from the theatre. He was holding a woman around the neck, a knife at her throat. The woman looked up, and Jace stepped back in shock.  
  
"Sonya," he said, dropping his sword to the ground. Charlie laughed and ran the sharp blade across her throat. Blood poured down her chest and seeped down her top to the ground. Sonya flopped to the ground, landing in the pool of he blood, splashing it everywhere. "No!" shouted Jace. Charlie laughed again and threw the knife at Jace. It hit him and his world went black.  
  
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"Argh!" Jace shouted, sitting up in his bed. He scanned his bedroom for any threats, but found nothing in the dark room. He got out of bed and grabbed the pants for hid SeeD uniform and put them on, and grabbed a grey shirt that was lying on his desk chair. He then strapped his sword to his back, for no other reason than to shake the sense of terror he was feeling for Sonya. He ran out of his room and made his way to Sonya's. His fear of something having happened to her grew greater when he found her room empty. "Where the hell is she?" he asked himself as he moved out of her room and ran up to Squall's. He knocked on the door, and faintly heard Rinoa's voice.  
  
"Come in," she called. Jace opened the door and walked in.  
  
"Is Squall here?" Rinoa, a faint smile on her face, shook her head.  
  
"He's walking around Garden with Sonya," replied the woman. "Anything you wanted?"  
  
"How can you tell?" asked Jace. Rinoa smiled.  
  
"Not many people carry their weapons to someone else's room." Jace laughed. "Come here, sit down," she said, sitting up.  
  
"What's up?" asked Jace.  
  
"Something's wrong with you. I can tell."  
  
"It's nothing," said Jace, still a little edgy about his dream.  
  
"You can either tell me or I cast something on you that will make you tell me," said Rinoa with a little laugh. Jace smiled.  
  
"Alright, but can I tell you after I find Sonya?" Rinoa closed her eyes for a second, then opened them again.  
  
"They're on the second floor deck," she said. "But they're not alone." 


	6. Kidnap

A man walked silently through the corridors, straight towards the elevator in the center of the main lobby. He reached the elevator and hit the button.  
  
"Excuse me," said someone behind him. The man turned around. It was one of the Garden Faculty, one of the people who frequently patrolled Garden against intruders and students breaking curfew. "What are you doing here?" The man grinned.  
  
"I know you," he said in a raspy voice. The Faculty member looked closely at the man, then a flash of recognition passed through his face.  
  
"You!" said the member. "You—." The knife flashed out and caught the Faculty member in the throat. The force of the man's attack threw the Faculty member halfway down the steps in front of them. . The elevator chimed, and the man turned around. Smiling, he stepped in and pushed the button for the third floor  
  
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"What makes you think they're not alone?" asked Jace, standing up and checking his sword.  
  
"As a sorceress I found out that I had the ability to sense people. It's not just my husband and my daughter out there." Jace nodded.  
  
"Okay. I'll go check it out."  
  
"Thank you, Jace." Jace turned and walked out the door. Rinoa lay down on the bed again when she heard the door open again. "Jace?"  
  
"Not quite," said a raspy voice. Rinoa stiffened.  
  
"I know that voice."  
  
"I know you do," said the man as he came into Rinoa's field of vision. "A memory from long ago." The man stepped forward, and grabbed Rinoa's wrist tightly. She looked up into the man's eyes.  
  
"Siefer."  
  
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Jace opened the door to the deck and stepped outside.  
  
"Hi Jace," sad Sonya, turning around. Squall turned around too.  
  
"Hey, Jace."  
  
"Hi boss," said Jace. "Who else is here?" Squall frowned at Jace.  
  
"What do you mean, 'who else'? Me and Sonya are the only two people here." Now it was Jace's turn to frown.  
  
"But Rinoa told me that there were a heap of people here..." Jace turned and looked over to the side of the deck. "Sonya, Squall. Get inside now." Squall started moving, bu Sonya stayed.  
  
"What's wrong, Jace?"  
  
"Just move!" commanded Jace. Squall grabbed Sonya by the elbow and dragged her inside.  
  
"We can't just leave him out there! Something's wrong!" shouted Sonya when the thick steel door closed.  
  
"I know. Are you any good at strategies?" asked Squall. Sonya nodded. "Then you should know that I don't plan to go away. I'm waiting here as backup in case Jace needs me. I know how skilled you are at fighting. You should probably do the same as me." Sonya nodded and flung her arms out to the side, bringing her daggers into view. She then transferred both daggers to one hand and grabbed her phone in the other.  
  
"Irvine? Yeah, it's Sonya. I have a question for you. No I don't care what time it is. Just go check on my mother for me! I think she might be in trouble! Thanks, Uncle. See ya." She put the phone away and turned to face Squall again. "Ok, I'm ready now." Squall nodded and turned to the door. A loud thump sounded from the other side, and Squall got out his gunblade.  
  
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Jace stood silently in the center of the deck, waiting for a threat he wasn't sure was even there. Suddenly, he heard a slight bang off to the side. He moved backwards a bit and drew a dagger he had placed in a hidden pocket at the small of his back. Suddenly, a small cylinder came flying up over the fence and landed at Jace's feet. He looked down at it, and saw the markings on the side of it. "The Flash-Bang grenade explodes with a bright light and a loud bangs to incapacitate the opponent temporarily." Jace knelt down and grabbed the Flash-Bang, then threw it back over to side and blocked his ears. A loud thump echoed from below, accompanied by many grunts. Suddenly, grappling hooks shot up all around Jace and attached themselves to the fence of the deck. Soldiers came climbing up and jumped over the side, attacking Jace head-on. Jace threw his dagger at the first one as he came up, knocking him back down to the ground far below. Then one knocked into him from behind, ramming Jace into the fence. Jace kicked his legs out, and sent the person soaring backwards. Several attackers came at him at once, knocking ace into the heavy iron door leading into Garden. He lashed his fist out at one person smacking him in the face, then dropped ad swept the legs out from under a few of the others. Then another caught him in the face, making him hit his head hard against the steel ground of the deck. Jace was starting to get angry, and he could feel the flames leaping around behind his eyes. He leapt back to his feet and started attacking full on against all of his assailants. He grabbed his sword and tried to attack with that, but found he had too little room. He was hit brutally in the stomach, and fell to the ground, all the air driven from his lungs. Suddenly, the flames burst from his eyes again, and Jace felt himself gain an incredible amount of energy. He leapt up and pushed his hand right through one man's throat. He then threw the man into several others, while at the same time moving around behind another and snapping his neck. He moved backwards and raised his arms.  
  
"What the hell is he doing?" asked one soldier uncertainly when they had all stopped. They heard him mumbling word while a red glow appeared in his hands.  
  
"He's using Para magic!" yelled another Soldier. "Firaga!" Jace's mumbling grew louder, and the red glow in his hands quickly changed into flames that grew more intense with each passing second, his eyes mimicking them. The soldiers started for the door, but never made it. Jace finished his muttering, and the flames in his hands flared out in all direction, enveloping him and the soldiers, filling the night sky with a bright red glow.  
  
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Irvine walked through the corridor towards Squall's bedroom, wondering what Sonya thought was so wrong. The night was not to hot, yet not too cold, with a nice breeze flowing through the gigantic building. He sniffed the air, drinking in the scent of the flowers growing inside Garden, and turned to Squall's door, his eyes closed. He reached his hand up to knock on the door when it opened suddenly.  
  
"Oh, hi Rinoa," he said, opening his eyes. "Hey! You're not—!" Siefer's gloved hand flashed out of the darkness of Squall's room and caught Irvine full in the face.  
  
"Evening, Cowboy," he said, walking out into the corridor. Irvine got up off the floor and faced off against Siefer. Siefer moved forward, feinted left, then dropped Irvine with a kidney punch. "Not very good at this, are you Cowboy?" Siefer walked over to Irvine, who was lying on the floor, and kicked him repeatedly in the stomach, driving all the air from his lungs. Irvine muttered something, and Siefer leant down to listen. "Something you want to tell me?"  
  
"Why...why are you...here?" asked Irvine in a quivering voice.  
  
"Revenge," said Siefer, punching Irvine in the head once more. "Give Squall a message for me," he said, thrusting an envelope into Irvine's arms. "Don't forget." With that, Siefer grabbed his Hyperion gunblade and slashed it across Irvine's exposed back, making him cry out in pain.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Squall opened the door to the deck after the redness had disappeared from the steel, and walked into the hot air outside.  
  
"What the hell happened to you, Jace?" asked Sonya. Jace got up from where he was kneeling amongst a pile of charred bodies and move over to her, hugging her tightly. "Hey, I'm happy to see you too, Jace. What happened?" Jace let go of her and moved back.  
  
"I have to tell you something," he said quietly. "Tell both of you."  
  
"Then tell us in a minute," said Squall as his phone started ringing. "Yeah?"  
  
"Squall," came Zell's voice from through the phone. "You have to come down to your room."  
  
"Why?" asked Squall, an all too familiar frown coming back to his face.  
  
"Just get here now," said Zell. The phone cut off with a faint click. Squall looked at Jace, and the trio ran into the corridor towards Squall's room.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Zell stood waiting at the edge of the corridor for Squall to come down.  
  
"Oh shit," he muttered when he saw Sonya and Jace running alongside Squall.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Squall when he got to Zell.  
  
"Why are you all the way up here?" asked Sonya. Jace stood behind the two, completely silent.  
  
"Squall, I want you and Sonya to prepare yourselves. Neither of you are going to like this." Sonya reached forward and grabbed onto Zell's shirt.  
  
"Just let us see what happened."  
  
"Alright." Zell turned and walked down the hallway, with the other three in tow.  
  
"Irvine!" shouted Sonya, running up to her godfather. Jace reached the two and saw the full extent of Irvine's injuries. His face was torn and bleeding, his let arm looked broken, and it looked like half of his ribs had been crushed.  
  
"Who did this?" asked Jace to Zell. The other man shrugged helplessly. Jace looked down again and saw Irvine cradling something in his arms. "Irvine? What's that?" he asked, kneeling to take the thing. "Where'd you get the envelope?" asked Squall.  
  
"Irvine. It's got your name on it," replied Jace. He handed the letter to Jace. Squall ripped it open and read the letter. As his eyes went down the page, Jace noticed Squall start to shake more and more. Suddenly, Squall threw the paper down onto the ground and launched his fist through a wall. "Hey, Squall! What's wrong?"  
  
"That bastard's back," said Squall quietly.  
  
"Who?" asked Zell.  
  
"Siefer. He did this to Irvine, and now he's taken Rinoa." Jace walked over to the discarded letter and picked it up.  
  
"Hello Squally," he read. "I hope you like what I did to your friend. I kind of hoped it would be Chicken-Wuss, but oh well. By the time you read this, Rinoa will be far away from you, and I with her. Now, don't get me wron, I'm not really that interested in her, so don't worry about that. Al I want, is a chance to fight you one more time. Now don't think I'm going to make this easy on you. You have to find me. You can even enlist the services of your criminal friend, and he can even help fight me, but you have to find me within a week, otherwise, Rinoa is as good as gone. Have fun. The Sorceress' Knight."  
  
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I'm sort of running out of ideas for what could happen in later chapter, so if anybody reading this has any ideas, then please feel free to put them on the review board, and I'll check them out. 


	7. Road Trip

Jace woke up to a loud rumbling sound. He swung his feet off the bed, and received a shock when they hit the cold metal floor.  
  
"What the hell?" he wondered as he stood up and looked around. He noticed the red paint covering that metal walls. He searched his memory, but could only remember one place that looked like this. "I wonder who got me onto the Ragnorak?" he asked himself. He put on his clothes and walked through the corridor to the cockpit. He hit the sensor door and walked in. He looked around and saw Zell sitting in the navigator's seat. Squall was sitting in a seat at the back of the cockpit. He walked over to his partner, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Morning," he said.  
  
"G'morning," replied Squall. "Sleep well?"  
  
"Yeah. Who got me on here without waking me up?" asked Jace. Squall winced a little.  
  
"You were injected with a sleeping med." Jace looked at Squall.  
  
"Who did it?" he asked.  
  
"The only person you'd never hit. Sonya."  
  
"Of course," said Jace. "Is Sonya here?"  
  
"Yeah, she's still asleep." Suddenly, something occurred to Jace.  
  
"Uh, Squall? Who's flying the ship?"  
  
"I am," replied a slightly squeaky female voice. A small-framed lady hit a button on the console in front of her and jumped up, turning around in mid- air.  
  
"You're Selphie Tilmitt, aren't you?" asked Jace uncertainly.  
  
"He's as good as you said, Squall," said Selphie.  
  
"Ah, but you're not exactly unheard of," replied Squall. Jace looked from Selphie to Squall, then back to Selphie.  
  
"Didn't you go back to Trabia Garden years ago?" Selphie nodded emphatically.  
  
"Yep. I was supervising the rebuilding."  
  
"So why are you here?" asked Jace. Selphie opened her mouth to answer, but Squall cut in.  
  
"Given that Selphie would probably take half an hour to answer, I'll do it. She was the first person to fly this thing, and she's the best at it. That's why I arranged for her to come to Garden for a while." Jace stared at Selphie.  
  
"Does Irvine know you're back?" he asked. Selphie stopped bouncing around, and looked at Jace.  
  
"No, he doesn't, and given his condition, I don't want him to just yet." Jace nodded, then moved over to a chair and sat down.  
  
"So, Squall where are we going?" Squall looked up from a piece of paper and stared at a map attach to the console next to him.  
  
"Esthar," he replied. "I need to get some help off someone."  
  
"Would I know this person?" asked Jace, hoping for more information.  
  
"Maybe," replied Squall. Jace nodded, and walked out of the room to search for Sonya. He wandered through the corridors until he heard a thump and a grunt at the same time from through the wall. He opened the door and walked in to find Sonya beating up on a punching bag.  
  
"Something wrong?" he asked.  
  
"Nope!" replied the woman, not ceasing her thrashing in the slightest. "Just training so I could beat the crap out of that Almasy guy." She stepped back and let loose with a devastating spin kick, breaking the chain that kept the bag attached to the roof and sent it flying into the wall.  
  
"I know how good a fighter you are," said Jace, moving over to the woman he loved. "but Almasy is a lot stronger than you think. You can't take him on your own." She glared at him.  
  
"I won't be alone," she said. "My dad's just as pissed off as I am."  
  
"True," conceded Jace. "But look what he did to Irvine. He's a lot stronger than any of us think."  
  
"How do you know that?" asked Sonya.  
  
"It's just a feeling, and those feelings normally turn out to be right." Sonya glared at him again.  
  
"I don't care. He's mine." She pushed Jace away from her and stalked out the door. Jace watched her leave, then turned toward a thick wooden pole in the center of the room that was normally used for accuracy training. He stared at the pole for a few seconds, then closed his eyes. He opened them again and flames shot out of them, covering his entire body. He lashed out with his flaming hand, and splintered the pole into hundreds of pieces.  
  
"What the hell was that?" asked Sonya, as she came back into the room. She saw Jace, flames surrounding him, and took a step back.  
  
"It's okay, it's me," said Jace.  
  
"What the hell happened to you?" asked Sonya. The flames died away from Jace, and he moved over to Sonya.  
  
"I've been meaning to tell you what happened to me. I guess now is as good a time as any."  
  
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Sorry, but you have to wait to the next chapter to find out what happened. Somebody please R n R, I've only had One! One! I mean, doesn't anybody read nowadays? Oh yeah. Hope you enjoy the story. He he. 


	8. Story Time

Jace Thompson walked into the dark stone room deep in one of the jungles in Galbadia, a black trench coat enveloping him completely. He walked up to one of the guards, and stopped in front of him, who started shaking.  
  
"Is he in?" asked Jace.  
  
"Y-y-yes sir. He's...uh, he's expecting you," replied the guard in obvious terror. Jace nodded, then stepped quickly towards the guard, who flinched. Smiling, Jace walked past the guard, who kneeled on the ground and started hugging himself in terror. He entered the room through the door and walked up to the large table in the center.  
  
"How nice of you to make it, Mr. Gerardo. I'm surprised. You're only an hour late."  
  
"Yeah, it's incredible," said Jace. "What do you want, Sentaro?" Victor Sentaro, drug running, war mongering coke baron, smiled at Jace.  
  
"Why are you so eager to find out?"  
  
"I don't like staying in one place for a long time. What do you want?" Sentaro smiled again.  
  
"I have a job for you," he said. "It will pay very well, and I want you to know that I feel you're the only one who can do it."  
  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sentaro. Now tell me about the job." Sentaro sat back in his chair.  
  
"It involves assassination."  
  
"I kind of figured that part out, given my chosen profession."  
  
"True," conceded Sentaro. "The person I want you to get is a man called Hshyan Madogo." Jace stared harshly at Sentaro.  
  
"You want me to kill another drug baron for you?"  
  
"Yes. I would get one of my people to, but none of them would be fit to undergo the procedure that is needed to get in."  
  
"What do you mean by procedure?" asked Jace suspiciously.  
  
"Uh uh. You know I need some kind of knowledge that you wont tell anyone if you want to hear about this before agreeing to the contract." Jace sat down in one of the seats and leaned in close to Sentaro.  
  
"You'll just have to trust me, wont you? Otherwise, I'll never agree to your contract." Sentaro leaned back and sighed.  
  
"Of course. I should have known you'd say that. This hurts me to say, even to someone as trustworthy as yourself, Dominic, but Madogo is far above me. I have to take him out just to survive."  
  
"I understand. And I can understand your reason for choosing me, so I need to know what this procedure is so I can understand fully."  
  
"Alright. It is an operation that would focus your emotions – or more specifically, your anger – into strength in a fight. I have heard stories of your strength when you get angry, and with this you would become an unstoppable man."  
  
"What does this surgery involve?" asked Jace.  
  
"It is an implant, placed in your head, just behind your ear. It's a very quick operation, and you'll be back up and around in less than an hour."  
  
"Alright. I'll do it, but if anything happens to me, then you're screwed, you know that, don't you?" Sentaro nodded, obviously relieved.  
  
"Good. Please, follow me." He got up and exited the room, Jace following quietly behind. As he walked through the corridor, he glared at the guard he met previously, who dropped to the floor again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"So what happened after that?" asked Sonya, sitting down against the wall of the training room, Jace's head resting in her lap, staring at the ceiling.  
  
"Well, if you didn't interrupt me, then I might be able to tell you." Sonya laughed, then patted Jace on the forehead.  
  
"Continue."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jace woke up and got off the bed. He walked into the corridor, trying to remember where he had fallen asleep, as a couple of people walked up to him. Then he remembered about the operation.  
  
"Need some help buddy?" asked the first man.  
  
"Can you show me the way to Sentaro's office?" The man shrugged.  
  
"Nope."  
  
"No?" asked Jace.  
  
"Nope," replied the man behind the one in front of Jace.  
  
"Don't make me make you show me the way." Both men laughed.  
  
"You can try," said another man behind Jace. Jace spun around and found the man wrapping a huge metal chain around his fist.  
  
"Fine." Jace shot forward, and smacked his fist into the man's face. The man dropped to the floor, while the other two men came up and grabbed Jace, holding him in place. The man with the chain stood up and grinned.  
  
"My turn," he said, driving his fist into Jace's stomach. The air disappeared from Jace's lungs, and the man punched him another time. Jace felt the anger building up inside him as the man hit him again. Something dark was pulsing inside Jace, trying to make it's way out. He grunted, trying to hold the dark thing in check, but it was too strong. The man hit Jace again, and he dropped to his knees, his eyes clamped shut. Suddenly, an incredible pain shot through Jace's body, making him fall and shake uncontrollably. He opened his eyes and flames shot out of them, making the three men around him step backward. No longer in control of his emotions, he shot forward and grabbed the chain right out of the man's hand, literally ripping through the skin. The man screamed and fell to the ground, while Jace spun around and whipped the chain into another man's head. Then he kicked out at the remaining man, launching hi right through the stone wall behind him. Several other men walked into the room at all the noise, but quickly ran out again when Jace smacked one of them into a barred window. Jace turned and ran down the corridor, quickly finding Sentaro's office.  
  
"What the hell is this?" he yelled. Sentaro looked up flinched at the sight of the flaming man.  
  
"That is your implant working."  
  
"Any particular reason why I'm on fire?" yelled Jace.  
  
"That is a shock tactic. So, are you ready to get Madogo now?"  
  
"Go to hell," said Jace. He lifted his wristwatch to his wrist. "Bring 'em in."  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Sentaro.  
  
"Victor Sentaro, you're under arrest, for drug running, murder, extortion, and a shitload of other things that I can't be bothered listing. Now stand up," said Jace, the flames dying out from his eyes.  
  
"No," replied Sentaro. Flames shot out of Jace's eyes again.  
  
"Want me to make you?"  
  
"I'm going, I'm going," said Sentaro. Jace grabbed his and tied up his wrists.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"So you were undercover?" asked Sonya.  
  
"Yep," replied Jace.  
  
"Did your superiors ever find out about the implant?"  
  
"No one but you and me knows about it now."  
  
"What do you mean now? What about Sentaro?" Jace smiled.  
  
"Sentaro pissed off the wrong guys in prison. He was stabbed a couple of weeks after he was put in."  
  
"So my father doesn't know about this?" she asked. Jace shook his head.  
  
"Nope. I was going to tell him, but I think he has more to worry about now that a man who can turn into a flaming psycho whenever he gets pushed." Sonya shrugged.  
  
"I think you should tell him anyway," she said.  
  
"Later," he said. He was about to continue when an alarm blared out and lights dropped from the ceiling, flashing everywhere.  
  
"RED ALERT!" came a huge voice. "INCOMING FIGHTERS!" Jace looked at Sonya, and the two of them ran to the cockpit. 


	9. Short Flight

Squall stood in the back of the cockpit, watching as the fighter jets took up escort positions around the Ragnorak.  
  
"What are they doing?" asked Zell, frantically trying to open a channel to the unidentified fighters. When he got no answer, Zell threw his hands in the air in frustration. Jace and Sonya entered the cockpit just as an explosion rocked the ship.  
  
"Guess it's not a friendly escort then?" asked Jace as he got back up.  
  
"Guess not," replied Zell, getting up from the comm. chair and running over to the weapons station. He didn't make it though, as another explosion threw the ship.  
  
"Selphie? Do you know what evasive maneuvers are?" yelled Squall over the loud alarms that suddenly sprung up all over the place.  
  
"You try it in a ship this size!" retorted Selphie, her face screwed up in concentration. Suddenly, Jace had a thought.  
  
"Stay here!" he said to Sonya as he ran back out of the cockpit. He ran until he reached the mini-hangar in the stomach of the Ragnorak. He turned on the intercom and told Zell to open the door. Zell complied immediately, and the huge door, started to move down. He moved over the air car that was in the corner, and wound up the windows. He hit the comm. Button on the console in front of him.  
  
"Zell! Send out a Mayday signal!" he shouted as the ship bucked again.  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Just do it!" shouted Jace as he turned on the air car.  
  
"Done," said Zell a few seconds later.  
  
"Good. Now, tell Selphie to make it look as though the next shot screws up the navigational controls. Then once I draw them away, make your way to Esthar. I'll meet you there."  
  
"Hang on, Sonya wants to talk to you," said Zell. Jace immediately cut off the comm. He couldn't afford any distractions at the moment. Suddenly, another shot glanced off the Ragnorak's hull, making the whole place bounce around violently. When the bouncing didn't stop, Jace got a smile on his face, though it was mixed with uncertainty as well.  
  
"I hope that she s just acting," said Jace to himself as he swung the air car around. "Twenty seconds," he said. He had timed himself on how long it had taken for him to get to the hangar, and he wanted to time this right so it looked genuine. When he reached ten seconds, he revved the engine. He was just about to go when the door opened and Sonya jumped in.  
  
"What the hell are you doing? Get out!" shouted Jace.  
  
"No! I'm staying with you!" replied Sonya forcefully. Growling, Jace hit the accelerator and sped out into gunfire-filled sky. He swerved around one of the fighter jets as it opened up on the little air car. Jace pushed the controls as far forward a he could, making the car go completely vertical in a downward drop. Sonya screamed, but Jace ignored her. When the car was about a thousand feet from the ground, he pulled back on the controls and shot away from the fighters.  
  
"What the Ragnorak doing?" asked Jace. Sonya turned and looked back.  
  
"It looks like it's sinking," she said. Jace nodded his head.  
  
"Good. That means those assholes will follow us."  
  
"I'd have to agree with you there," replied Sonya. Jace looked behind him and saw ten fighter jets peeling from pursuing the Ragnorak, and went straight after the air car.  
  
"So much for getting to Esthar in this thing," said Jace sadly. "Do you have a parachute?" he asked Sonya.  
  
"No, why?" she asked.  
  
"Because we're going to plan B." Jace hit a button on the console and the roof of the car popped off. "Hold on to m," said Jace. Sonya grabbed hold as the seat flew up into the air. The two people dropped in a freefall until they were less than a hundred feet from the ground. Jace pulled the ripcord on his parachute, and the two of them dropped gently to the ground in the middle of a cornfield. As soon as they landed, Jace undid the parachute and pulled on Sonya's arm.  
  
"Come on!" he shouted. Sonya shook her head and started running with Jace. They ran until they saw a huge barn. Jace grabbed Sonya and picked her up, knowing that he could run faster. As he ran, Jace heard the scream of the fighter jets growing louder and louder behind him. He passed a huge pile of hay that suddenly exploded everywhere due to a hail of gunfire let loose from one of the jets. He heard Sonya muttering something to herself as he ran, but chose to ignore it. He heard a whistle as one of the jets torpedoes shot away, and jumped to the side, making it shoot right past him and fly straight into the barn, which immediately blew outwards, making Jace and Sonya fly backwards. Jace got up and saw the fighter jets flying right at him. A look of grim determination came to his face, quickly followed by shock as the ground fell away from him and Sonya, giving way to stars. Jace looked around and saw the jets, with their thrusters on full power, staying completely still. Suddenly, a huge rock fell from above and hit one of the jets full on, shattering the metal and the pilot within. Jace moved backwards over to Sonya a more meteors fell, crushing all of the fighter jets. When the jets had been completely obliterated, the ground came back to Jace's feet. He looked over at Sonya, who was sitting on the ground.  
  
"You did that, didn't you," he remarked. Sonya didn't say anything. She looked up and nodded, a huge grin on her face. "It could be good to have you around," said Jace as he helped Sonya up. "Come on, we have to get moving." 


	10. Surprises

"Pull up! Pull up!" yelled Zell as Selphie fought the controls to stop the Ragnorak from plowing into the hard earth. Squall ran forward and jumped into the co-pilots seat, then started pulling on his own control. With his strength, the controls came back easily, making the huge ship start to level out.  
  
"We're not going to make it!" cried Selphie, letting go of the controls to cover her eyes. Squall immediately felt the extra pull that Selphie was covering against the controls, but fought against it. Squall did not stop pulling on the controls until the huge shiip was level, but it wasn't easy. It skimmed the treetops and kicked up huge amounts of dirt as it leveled out. When the ship was finally steady, Squall set it down on the ground, and turned the machine off.  
  
"Thanks for your help," he said as he got out of the chair and walked out of the cockpit. Selphie got up to go after him, but Zell pulled her back.  
  
"Leave him," he said. "He now lost is daughter and his wife."  
  
"But, she left. He didn't lose her," replied Selphie. "You know as well asi do that she might very well have died out there. We can't tell." Selphie nodded and sat back down.  
  
"I wonder how they're doing right now?" she asked, looking up at the roof.  
  
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"Look out!" yelled Jace as he threw his sword at the Bite bug sneaking up behind Sonya as she gutted a Caterchipillar. Sonya spun around and kicked the impaled monster, knocking it into a tree.  
  
"Why the hell are all these things attacking us? It's not normal for monsters," she said as tossed the sword back to Jace. Jace looked around at the approaching pack of T-rexaurs and sighed.  
  
"I know," he replied as he brought his sword up. Suddenly, a forgotten memory flashed through him, just as the monsters ran at him all at once.  
  
"I hope the password hasn't changed," Jace said. He dropped his sword and raised his arms to the sky. "Maleagas, Cornelium!" The lead T-Rexaur skidded to a halt immediately, then walked slowly up to Jace and stopped dead.  
  
"How did you d that?" asked Sonya in astonishment. Jace turned around and smiled.  
  
"I just remembered where we are," replied Jace.  
  
"Where?" asked Sonya as Jace walked over to the shrubbery and started pulling at different branches.  
  
"This is where Victor Sentaro's base used to be," said Jace as he found the right branch and pulled. The trees suddenly lifted up and out of the way. Sonya's mouth gaped s the dense trees gave way to a huge metallic corridor.  
  
"Sentaro always did believe that his hideaway was a good one," said Jace said Jace as he took Sonya's hand and led her inside.  
  
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A loud thump echoed through the confines of the ship, followed by a loud curse from Zell. Squall shook his head and continued reading while he and Selphie waited for Zell to fix an engine component that had been shot up during the mid-air battle. He sat up and was about to go get a drink when he heard his cell phone ring. He walked back over and picked it up, thinking it was just going to be some problem with Garden, where he had left Quistis in charge.  
  
"If you ever want to see you're wife again, you'd better listen to me," said a harsh voice on the other end of the line. Squall's head jerked up.  
  
"Who the hell are you? You're not Siefer!" he exclaimed.  
  
"I figured out that part for myself, although I thank you for confirming it," replied the voice, dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"So what do you want? I know that it was Siefer who took my wife, so you don't really have much leverage."  
  
"I don't want anything off you. I want to help you, dumbass." Squall walked out of his room and out of the Ragnorak. "I know where Siefer is keeping her. I can help you get her back, but I need something in return."  
  
"I thought you didn't want anything," replied Squall.  
  
"Can it. I can't tell you yet what I need, but when you come to pick me up, I'll tell you."  
  
"Wait! Where are you?" asked Squall.  
  
"Go to Timber. Some nice memories there," replied the voice. The call was cut abruptly, and Squall put his phone back in his pocket. He turned around slowly and ran inside.  
  
"Zell. Move your ass! We need to get to Timber!" he yelled, running up to the cockpit.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jace moved throughout the well-stocked kitchen, gathering the ingredients to make dinner for him and Sonya. "Shouldn't this stuff have gone off by now? You took Sentaro in years ago." Jace nodded.  
  
"But that doesn't mean that none of his subordinates didn't use it. Ad he also used some sort of magic on the shelves that prevented things from going off." Sonya nodded her head.  
  
"Is there anything for me to do right now?" Jace turned to her and nodded.  
  
"Go try and ring your father. I don't know where he is, so it would pay to find out. It'd also relieve some of his tension."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"He thinks his daughter is dead. If you ring him, then he'll know that you're alive, and you don't know how much of a relief that will be to him."  
  
"Do you?" asked Sonya, sensing what seemed to be another painful subject for her lover.  
  
"Maybe you'll find out some other time," replied Jace, turning away to continue cooking. Shaking her head, Sonya turned and walked out of the underground building. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her father. After five minutes of retrying and getting no answer, she gave up and walked back inside.  
  
"No answer," she said as Jace dished up their food. "Wow, that was quick."  
  
"More magic," said Jace with a grin on his face.  
  
"Ah," replied Sonya. She sat down at the table and started eating.  
  
"So did you get through?" asked Jace after a few minutes.  
  
"No," said Sonya. "He must be too far away."  
  
"Don't worry. Tomorrow morning we'll make out way to Winhill, and try from there."  
  
"Why Winhill? Deling City's closer."  
  
"Too many people have it in for me in Deling City. Busted too many people." Sonya nodded.  
  
"How do we get to Winhill?" Sonya asked.  
  
"When I last came here, Sentaro had an arsenal of cars. I just hope no one stole all of them."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Zell cursed loudly, then turned around where Squall waited anxiously.  
  
"I don't think we'll be going anywhere for a while, Squall. I need a replacement piston. This one was shot up way to bad." Squall turned and walked over to the intercom.  
  
"Selphie, I need the location of the closest town."  
  
"The closest is town is Dollet, Squall," replied Selphie from the cockpit.  
  
"I had to land us closest to the town where technology is evil, didn't I," stated Squall as he turned off the intercom, then punched t repeatedly until it was a only a mangled piece of plastic.  
  
"Hold on," said Zell. "You remember that machine we busted up in Dollet all those years ago?"  
  
"Yeah. But that would have been cleaned up by now," replied Squall.  
  
"Actually no," replied Zell. "They set it up as a statue when they finished there war with Galbadia. I think I might be able to talk them into giving me one of the pistons, if it still works."  
  
"Try it," said Squall. "Go tell Selphie where you and I are going. There sems to be something wrong with the intercom. I'll meet you outside." Zell smirked, then ran off to find Selphie. Squall turned and walked back outside.  
  
"Ready?" asked Zell, running out of the Ragnorak.  
  
"Let's go." 


	11. A Spot of Bother

Jace wandered through the dark corridors of Sentaro's fortress, trying to remember where to find the underground car park. As he walked, he found himself wondering how he was going to contact Squall. A pay phone was the obvious choice, but they were too easily taped, and he wanted to stay completely out of sight. When he couldn't come up with an answer, he decided to worry about it when he and Sonya reached Winhill, and focused on trying to find the car park. Using vague memories as a guide, he turned left and continued through the labyrinthine corridors. Suddenly, Jace came out into a cavernous room that contained row after row of cars.  
  
"Jackpot," he said, smiling. He walked through between rows and looked for a powerful car that could remain inconspicuous. He came upon the perfect car, and was about to get in when he heard a rattle coming from the other side of the room. He immediately turned to look, and saw several people hopping into a car. He quickly ducked down as the people turned on the car and drove out. When they were gone, he stood back up and ran to the car. He turned it on and drove around to the front of Sentaro's fortress. He got out, still leaving the car running, and ran inside.  
  
"What's the matter?" asked Sonya as Jace ran into the room  
  
"We have to get out of here."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Now!" commanded Jace, grabbing her wrist. Sonya grabbed the knives lying on the table as she was pulled out of the room, and together they ran out to the front entrance.  
  
"Why are we leaving?" asked Sonya as they ran.  
  
"It's not safe here anymore."  
  
"What? Why?" she asked, nearly tripping as she tried to keep up with Jace.  
  
"I saw some people here. I remembered them from when I was here. They hated me then. Now that I've gotten rid of their boss, they're probably pissed."  
  
"Well, who are they?" asked Sonya as the two of them ran out of the entrance.  
  
"Them," replied Jace, pointing at the five people standing around Jace's car.  
  
"Hello, Dominic," said the man at the front of the group, grinning evilly.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Zell and Squall walked into Dollet and immediately scanned their surrounding as their SeeD training kicked in.  
  
"Go and see if you can have a look at that piston. I'll deal with the town mayor," said Squall. Zell complied at once, running off down the street, while Squall turned toward the center of town. He reached the town square and walked into the building where only a few years ago had stood a hotel. When Dollet had finished fighting against Galbadia, they had elected a mayor, and had decided to make a proper town hall. De to not having been in Dollet for a while, Squall did not know who the current mayor was, which made him uncomfortable. When e was trying to negotiate with someone, as he was sure the mayor would want to do, he liked to know what they were like. He walked into the lobby, and went up to the front desk.  
  
"I'd like to see the mayor, please," he said as pleasantly as his personality could handle.  
  
"Of course," replied the receptionist. "Do you have an appointment?"  
  
"Of course I do. Um, do you mind if I have a look at your appointment book? I have to travel under a certain amount of aliases due to my sort of business," said Squall, suddenly speaking conspiratorially. "I'm not quite sure what my secretary booked me in as."  
  
"Of course," said the obviously very naïve receptionist. She handed over the appointment book, and Squall had a look through it. He spotted an appointment for half an hour later, and nodded.  
  
"This is the one. Damien McDonald. Thank you. I'll be back in half an hour."  
  
"Alright then, Mr. McDonald. See you then." Squall smiled, then walked out of the building. He walked to the beach, where the statue of the robot XATM092 stood, gleaming as though it were still in battle condition.  
  
"Find anything?" he asked Zell when he reached him. Zell almost bounced with delight.  
  
"It's perfect. Did you talk to the Mayor?"  
  
"I go in half an hour," replied Squall. "What do we do until then?" he asked Squall.  
  
"I was thinking of going to that bar that has the mini-casino above it," said Zell thoughtfully. "I've never tried blackjack before."  
  
"Let's go," said Squall, hoping that the gambling would get his mind off his wife.  
  
Half an hour later, Squall and Zell exited the building, Squall counting a large group of hundred dollar bills, Zell grumbling something about hoping for an advance pay.  
  
"Come on," said Squall, handing Zell a couple of hundreds. "I have an appointment to get to." The two men walked to the town center, discussing how to handle the mayor. As neither of them knew who the mayor was, however, they didn't have much idea how to handle him. When they walked in, Squall instructed Zell to stay in the lobby. He walked up to the naïve receptionist, who absent-mindedly allowed him to go through, her eyes pasted on Zell. Sighing, Squall walked through the door and into the Mayor's office.  
  
"Ah, Mr. McDonald," said an aging man, getting up to shake Squall's hand.  
  
"First off, I'm not Damien McDonald," said Squall.  
  
"Then who-?" The mayor was cut off by Squall.  
  
"I'm Squall Leonhart."  
  
"Ah yes, I remember you," said the mayor, a frown creasing his face. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of this mighty SeeD?"  
  
"I'm not here for SeeD, Mr. Mayor. I'm here on my own behalf. Sorry but, may I know your name?" asked Squall.  
  
"I am Alexander Dericoff, Mr. Leonhart. How may I help you?"  
  
"Mr. Dericoff, someone close to me was abducted not long ago, and I'm trying to get them back. My ship is landed nearby, but I can't go anywhere, due to a mid-air dogfight having ripped up a part of my engine."  
  
"So how can I help you?" asked Dericoff, his face full of concern. "As you have no doubt notice, we don't go much for technology in this place." Squall smiled.  
  
"I noticed, but there is one piece of technology in this town that is perfect."  
  
"And that is?"  
  
"The statue at the beach. XATM092. I had a friend of mine check it out, and it's perfect for the Ragnorak."  
  
"Of course," said Dericoff immediately. "By all means, take it! And when you find Mrs. Leonhart, give her my regards."  
  
"Thank you," said Squall, getting up to walk out the door. Just before he opened it however, a thought crossed through his mind. "I'm sorry, but what did you just say?" The mayor looked up.  
  
"I said take the piston," he replied.  
  
"No after that," said Squall.  
  
"Um, sends my regards to Mrs. Leonhart when you find her."  
  
"I never told you I was looking for her," said Squall.  
  
"What? Of course you did," replied the mayor with the airiness of a lying politician. Squall moved quickly, grabbing the mayor by the shirt and throwing him against a wall.  
  
"Who told you about that? Where is she?" commanded Squall.  
  
"I-I don't know!" said Dericoff, his face full of terror.  
  
"Where is she?" yelled Squall.  
  
"I don't know!" screamed Dericoff. Sighing, Squall dropped to mayor to the floor and walked out. He reached the lobby, and found Zell getting the receptionist's phone number.  
  
"Zell!" he called. "Let's go." Zell kissed the receptionist goodbye, and followed Squall out.  
  
"Are we allowed to get it?" asked Zell.  
  
"Yeah, but we'll have to be quick," replied Squall. "I had a go at the mayor."  
  
"Why?" asked Zell, knowing that Squall always had a reason when he attacked someone.  
  
"I didn't tell him who was kidnapped, but he knew it was Rinoa," said Squall bluntly.  
  
"Gotcha. I'd better get moving then," said Zell.  
  
"Okay. You get it. I'll draw them off. I'll meet you back at the Ragnorak."  
  
"Gotcha." Zell ran off, shooting past a group of nasty looking men dressed in cheap black suits the huge men walked up to Squall, who stood in front of them.  
  
"Hi boys," said Squall. "How are you?"  
  
"You attacked Mayor Dericoff," sad one man in a deep voice.  
  
"That I did."  
  
"Aw, lets just kill the old man and be done with it," said a second man.  
  
"Old!" exclaimed Squall defensively. "I'm not old." He lashed out, catching the man in the throat. "Just better." He pushed another man back and grabbed out his gunblade, ready to face any attack. Seeing what Squall was doing, then five remaining men stepped backward and pulled out weapons of their own. Five, extremely powerful looking guns.  
  
"I think I may have just made a mistake," said Squall to himself as the sixth man got back up and pulled out his own gun. 


	12. Fight or Flight

"Hi, Emilio," said Jace, instinctively moving around to shield Sonya from the people in front of them.  
  
"Stop moving," commanded Emilio. He motioned to one of the men beside him, and they aimed a very big rocket launcher at Sonya and Jace.  
  
"What do you want, Emilio?" asked Jace.  
  
"Well, I must say that I didn't expect you to come here, but I'm glad you did. Never was very happy with you putting my boss in the slammer."  
  
"Purely business. Its not like I wanted to."  
  
"Oh shut up," said Emilio. "Of course you wanted to, Thompson." He spat out the last word.  
  
"Ah, so you did learn my name."  
  
"You're the heroic type who cant allow others who break a few laws to go free."  
  
"He didn't just break a few laws," said Jace, his voice hardening. "He killedp eople, just for fun."  
  
"Yeah," replied Emilio. "Always did look up to him. Anyway, I always tried following in his footsteps. Now I think I'll kill you for fun." He smiled, and jumped forward, unsheathing his sword in the process. He dropped to the ground and brought his blade down. A huge echo rang through the clearing as Jace's own sword stopped Emilio's.  
  
"Always were a little slow, weren't you Emilio?" taunted ace, knocking Emilio back with his weapon. He then spun around and brought his sword down on Emilio's exposed neck. Suddenly, another sword dropped in front of it and knocked Jace's out of the way. Jace turned around and saw another of the men strike at Jace throat. But it never made it. Sonya ran at him, her body almost a blur, and thrust her daggers into the man's side. He grunted, then dropped to the ground. Sonya then spun and threw her knives into the rocket-launcher wielding man's throat, making him drop his weapon and fall to the ground. Suddenly, the last man attacked Sonya, while Emilio struck at Jace. Sonya ducked as the final man jumped at her, making him go flying above her. Jace saw this and spun around, taking off the ma's head. He then continued in his arc, and cut a huge hole into Emilio's chest. Sonya almost threw up as Jace kept going against Emilio, and rammed his hand up through Emilio's chest, than wrenched out his heart.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" screamed Sonya as Jace dropped the heart on the ground next to Emilio's corpse.  
  
"Sentaro's men were put through a ritual piece of magic when they were brought into his group. The only way to completely kill the person is to rip out there heart and destroy it."  
  
"Well then, hurry up," said Sonya, turning away. Jace raised his sword into the air, but was tackled sideways by Emilio, who was screaming in agony.  
  
"I'm going to kill you, Thompson!" screamed Emilio, his organ hanging out of the gaping wound in his chest. He jumped onto Jace's chest and started hitting him repeatedly.  
  
"Sonya!" he yelled. "Get the heart!" Emilio hit Jace in the face, and he blacked out for a minute. Sonya grabbed her knife and lunged for the still beating heart lying on the ground. Emilio must have known though, as he spun her around and knocked her backwards with a sharp shot from his hand. The move made him stop focusing on Jace for less than a second, but that was all the time he needed. He spun around so that he was lying on his stomach, and twisted his legs so that Emilio would fall to the ground. He then grabbed his sword and pushed it right through Emilio's body, pinning him to the ground.  
  
"Quick," he said, breathing heavily. Try to get the heart!" Emilio thrashed his arms wildly, and knocked Jace backwards. Then he tried pulling the sword out of his chest, but he without success. "Quick!" shouted Jace, forcing Sonya into action. She reacted instantly, and threw her dagger into the beating organ. As soon as it pierced through, Emilio started screaming, and his skin turned to dust right before her eyes., then the skeleton showed through, which quickly disintegrated along with the rest of his body. When it was finished, Sonya dropped to the ground.  
  
"Do that a lot?" she asked Jace.  
  
"I used to," he replied, sitting up.  
  
"How many of them have you killed?" asked Sonya. Jace got up and walked slowly, gingerly, to the still-running car and got in. "Hey! Answer me!" said Sonya, getting up and following him. She got into the car and, without answering her, Jace accelerated away from the fortress.  
  
"Answer me," said Sonya in a low voice.  
  
"Don't worry," replied Jace, his eyes on the rough ground.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"You don't want to know." Jace wiped some blood off his face, then tried to put his attention completely on the road.  
  
"Why?" insisted Sonya.  
  
"I said you don't want to know!" said Jace forcefully. Sonya sat back in her seat, and the two of them stayed completely silent until they reached Winhill.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The lead man grinned evilly as he leveled his gun at Squall's head.  
  
"I think you did make a mistake," he said.  
  
"I don't think he did," replied a raspy voice from behind the group of men.  
  
"What the?" asked the man, turning around. Suddenly, he was flying into the side of the street with a mace embedded into the side of his face. Then, in less than three seconds, the other five men were laying in the street with blade wounds all over them, blood streaking all over the street. One man stood in the center of the street, dressed completely in black.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Squall, leveling his gunblade at the man.  
  
"A friend", replied then man as he turned around and started walking away.  
  
"Hey! Wait!" yelled Squall as the man turned a corner. He ran around the corner, but couldn't find the man. "Now that was strange," said Squall to himself.  
  
"Hey, what's going on?" Squall jumped as Zell spoke up behind him.  
  
"Holy Hyne," said Squall. he spun around and threw Zell up against a wall. "Never do that again," he warned.  
  
"Okay, okay," said Zell. Squall set hi don on the ground.  
  
"Get the piston?" Zell held up a grease-covered hand, one that contained a huge piston in it.  
  
"Got it," he replied with a huge grin.  
  
"Good. We'd better get out of here. I don't like this place. It keeps getting stranger and stranger." Zell gave him a strange look.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I'll tell you when we get back," replied Squall. 


	13. A Bad Day

"Welcome to Winhill, strangers. How can I help you?" asked the aging woman that walked over to Jace and Sonya as soon as they entered through the gates of the town.  
  
"Hi," said Jace with a charming smile on his face. "You wouldn't happen to have a phone anywhere around here would you?"  
  
"We might," replied the lady. "it depends on where you plan on calling."  
  
"We don't actually know where the person we want to call is," replied Jace. "He should be at Esthar, so we were going to try ringing there." The lady stepped back in disbelief, then shook her head.  
  
"Sorry, young'un, the only phone we have in this town can only ring around Galbadia, no further."  
  
"Shit!" shouted Sonya from the other side of the car, prompting another shake of the lady's head.  
  
"Now now, young lady, you shouldn't use language like that," she said angrily. Jace reached over and tapped the woman gently on the arm.  
  
"Sorry, she's just been under a bit of stress lately."  
  
"She still shouldn't speak like that," replied the lady, but with a little more kindness.  
  
"Alright. Thanks anyway, but we have to get to another town before our fuel runs out." The lady looked down for a second, then looked back up.  
  
"Looks like your fuels already gone." Jace shook his head.  
  
"That can't be, the tank was full less than an hour ago." He opened his door and looked at the ground. Sure enough, there was a growing puddle of petrol on the ground. "How the hell did this happen?" he asked.  
  
"The monsters around here have evolved a bit. We now have a breed of tiny bugs with damn sharp claws. One of 'em must've hit your gas tank," replied a man, stepping up next to the lady.  
  
"Looks like you're a guest of Winhill for a while. Welcome, I'm Janelle, and this character here is Rupert," said the lady.  
  
"Hi," said Jace, reaching out to shake Rupert's hand. Rupert complied, and grabbed Jace in an iron grip. Grinning, Rupert grabbed onto Jace's arm with his other hand, and yanked him bodily out of the car, and threw him to ground. Jace got back up, only to find Rupert's closed fist flying right at him face. Relying purely on reflex, Jace spun to the side and grabbed the arm, then brought his knee up and drove it right into Rupert's elbow, completely shattering the bone in the man's arm  
  
"Aargh!" yelled Rupert as he dropped to his knees. Janelle immediately ran over to him.  
  
"Not too rough!" she yelled at Jace, who was standing beside Rupert, not wuite sure of what was happening. Janelle knelt down beside Rupert and cast a Curaga, and above the healing wind Jace could hear the cracks as Rupert's splintered elbow rejoined.  
  
"Whats going on here?" asked Sonya, who came up next to Jace, her daggers in her hands.  
  
"Rupert here was one of the original SeeD's to come and defend this place years ago. For some reason, even after all these years we've been married, he still likes to fight newcomers to the town."  
  
"Oh," said Jace, embarrassed about what he had done. "Sorry about the arm." His body completely healed, Rupert laughed.  
  
"Don't worry about it, boy. You looked like you needed a stress reliever." Jace smiled, and Sonya let out a little laugh.  
  
"Yeah, we've been going for a while." Rupert got to his feet, and gently grabbed Sonya's wrist and pried the dagger from her hand.  
  
"Then follow me. I have the perfect place for you to unwind." He tossed the dagger to Jace, then led Sonya into the house directly behind them.  
  
"This house was once used by Laguna Loire, the president of Esthar," said Janelle, obviously very proudly.  
  
"Really?" said Sonya, pretending to be interested so as not to dishearten the kind lady.  
  
"Janelle, they don't really need to hear about that. It was over fifty years ago." Rupert smiled, then patted his wife on the shoulder. "We'll leave you two to your rest."  
  
"Thanks," said Jace as the two left. Jace looked around the house, while Sonya climbed into bed. In his search, he managed to find a draw point hidden inside a cupboard, and the phone that Janelle had mentioned earlier. He picked it up and walked over to the bed where Sonya was sleeping like a baby. He dialed in the number to the Ragnorak's onboard phone, fully expecting to be given a notice that he couldn't do it, but sat up in shock when it started ringing.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Squall was pacing up and down the cockpit as Selphie piloted the ship towards Esthar.  
  
"Squall, I really think we should go to Timber and find that guy you talked to," said Zell. "I mean, it wouldn't take that much time. We're still on Galbadia."  
  
"I'm not going anywhere without having some sort of backup. Laguna owes me a few favours, so he might be able to help." Suddenly, the onboard phone rang. Squall moved over and picked it up. "Hello?" A crackly voice came over the line.  
  
"...uall?" Squall immediately stood up straight.  
  
"Jace?" he asked.  
  
"Squall!" came Jace's slightly distorted voice over the phone. "We...ed...help,...nya's here...Winhi...quick!" the signal cut out abruptly.  
  
"Zell!" Squall commanded. "Get me a trace on that line. Selphie, turn us around. Head us for Winhill!"  
  
"Uh, Squall, if you know where he is, why do you want a trace?" asked Zell.  
  
"I've been burnt by someone giving the wrong detail before. I want to make sure when my daughter's concerned."  
  
"Ah." Zell turned around and got to work. A few minutes later, he had it. "It's spot on. Winhill. President Loire's old house, to be exact."  
  
"Can you go faster, Selphie?" asked Squall, dropping into a chair.  
  
"If a Ruby Dragon bad-tempered?" asked Selphie, pushing the throttle lever forward.  
  
"How come you feel the need to break the sound barrier, Squall?" asked Zell, who was being forced back into his seat.  
  
"Jace sounded like he was in trouble. I hope we're not too late to help him, though."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Ragnorak arrived at Winhill only to find the entire town alight. The ship touched ground with its hangar door already open, and Squall ran out.  
  
"No!" he shouted. "I'm so close!" Suddenly, he heard a groan over the crackling flames, and he rushed over. He found an old man, groaning in pain on the ground.  
  
"Help me," said the man. Squall immediately cast a Curaga on the man, who sat up when he regained his breath.  
  
"Do you know where Jace Thompson is?" asked Squall as he helped the man to his feet.  
  
"I helped him fight off the guys who came into town after him."  
  
"Do you know where he is?" asked Squall, growing excited.  
  
"He's in that cabin there. You'll have to go in alone, I need to go and find my wife, Janelle." The man ran off through the flames, while Squall turned and smashed down the flaming door. He ran inside, and found Jace unconscious on the bed. Squall cast a Phoenix Down on him, then helped him to his feet.  
  
"Oh man, what a day," he growled.  
  
"Come on!" shouted Squall, and the two of them made their way out of the cabin. When they were out in the street, something occurred to Squall. "Sonya!" he shouted, turning to go back inside. But he was stopped by Jace grabbing his arm.  
  
"Don't worry," said Jace, breathing heavily.  
  
"Why not?" asked Squall, a sense of dread growing in his chest.  
  
"Because those guys that came, they weren't after me. They were after her."  
  
"Well where is she?" asked Squall, recognizing an old feeling in his stomach, the anger that he had held onto for so many years as his source of energy.  
  
"They got her. They took her just before they knocked me out." 


	14. Past Secrets

'Even after all these years,' Squall thought to himself as he walked off the ramp of the Ragnorak, 'Timber hasn't changed a bit.' He stopped at the bottom, then looked around the town, trying to find his contact.  
  
"Just out of curiosity, do you actually know what this contact of yours looks like?" asked Jace as he followed Squall off the ramp.  
  
"Umm, possibly," replied the older man.  
  
"He doesn't," said Zell as he jumped off the ramp. Squall ignored Zell and walked into the town.  
  
"He said he'd be here soon. Lets just take the time to get some rest." Squall then turned and sat down on a park bench in the middle of the town square. Zell stood in the street, practicing his signature martial arts moves, while Jace started pacing around like a caged Torama. After a few minutes, an annoyed Squall grabbed Jace by the arm.  
  
"Will you calm down?" he demanded. Jace glared at him with his unnervingly glowing eyes, and pulled his arm out of Squall's grasp.  
  
"Until I find the bastard who took Sonya, I will not calm down!" he hissed.  
  
"Jace, he took my daughter, AND my wife. But look at me, I can calm down," said Squall.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. A far cry from the great warrior, though," said Jace as he sat onto the bench.  
  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Squall as he sat down next to Jace.  
  
"When I was younger, I used to idolize you."  
  
"Oh, so you don't anymore?" asked Squall with a little smile. Jace laughed.  
  
"Nah, I know the real you now. But anyway, when I was younger, I used to imagine what it would be like to meet you. I could just identify so much with you." Squall shook his head.  
  
"You came from Galbadia Garden at fourteen, and before that you lived with your parents in Esthar. How could you identify with me that much?" asked Squall, a little confused.  
  
"Because when I first enrolled at Garden, I lied on my application form."  
  
"Lied about what?"  
  
"I have no clue who my parents are. I never knew them," he replied. Squall gave him a puzzled look.  
  
"But when we first let you come to Garden, we called your parents. How could you not know them?" Jace laughed.  
  
"They were a couple of homeless people from Deling City I bought a Cell Phone for. I promised I'd send them some of my paycheck every week. I've been doing it since I became a SeeD."  
  
"How come? Why go to so much trouble when we would've accepted you anyway? Taking homeless people, especially people with your potential, was something we try to do a lot." Jace laughed.  
  
"Bob and Marie, they were the two homeless people, they took care of me since I was born. When I first got an enrolment form, I offered to set them up for life. But they wouldn't take money off me for nothing, so I made a compromise. If they posed as my parents for whenever the people from Garden called, then that would be tem doing something that I could pay them for."  
  
"Well, if it works," replied Squall. "So where are they now?" Jace laughed again.  
  
"Well, now they are respected residents in a Deling City condo."  
  
"How long has it been since you last saw them?"  
  
"About a year," replied Jace.  
  
"You know something? When we get the girls back, you should go see them."  
  
"I think I will. I might even take Sonya with me," he replied. He then turned away from Squall, with a happy yet slightly sad look in his eyes. Satisfied that he had gotten Jace away from the anger, Squall turned to keep a lookout for his contact. After a few minutes, Squall closed his eyes and leaned back against the hard wooden seat, and tried to focus his aggravation at the not-showing contact by picturing Rinoa and Sonya safe and sound.  
  
"That him?" asked Jace, breaking Squall out of his reverie.  
  
"Who?" he asked, looking around.  
  
"Over there," said Zell, pointing over to a corner of the square, where a man dressed in black leather watched them.  
  
"Let's find out," said Squall, as he pulled his gunblade and started o run his finger along the blade.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Jace.  
  
"This is the signal for him to come forward. If that guy's our contact, then he should pull out two hand guns, drop the clips out, then make a show of putting more in." Jace turned and watched the man in the corner. Sure enough, he grabbed out two weapons, dropped the clips to the ground, making a huge clattering noise, then twirled the guns around while he grabbed two clips out, threw them into the air, then slammed them into the guns while thy were in mid-air.  
  
"Impressive," said Squall, getting up from the bench. "Lets go." As the three men walked over to him, Jace remembered a man who had that much skill with a weapon, but he couldn't recall who that man was.  
  
"Glad you could make it," said the man as they reached him. "Nice to see you again, Thompson." The voice triggered something in his memory, and suddenly, Jace remembered who the man with the gun skill was.  
  
"I see you had a bit of plastic surgery, Hernandez," he said as he pulled his sword out and held it at the man's throat. 


	15. Contact

Sonya woke up abruptly, and looked around wildly. She found herself in a vaguely familiar, brightly lit room, with no windows, and a heavy door across the other side of the room. She got up off the bed and slipped her feet into some slippers that were next to the bed. She reached the door and ran her hands along it, trying to find a weak spot that she might be able to use magic on."  
  
"Don't worry, it wont work, there's and anti-magic barrier to this room," said an all-too familiar voice behind him.  
  
"Mom!" exclaimed Sonya, turning and running into her mother's arms.  
  
"Hi, honey," replied the aging woman. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Alright," she replied. Rinoa cocked her head, letting her hair, still raven black, but with gray streaks running through it, fall across her shoulder.  
  
"No, you're not. Tell me what's wrong," Sonya smiled.  
  
"I thought there was an anti-magic barrier," she said.  
  
"There is," replied her mother. "But I'm you're mother, and I'm very intuitive. Now tell me what's wrong." Sonya opened her mouth to reply, but she had barely uttered a sound when the heavy door clanged, then opened, accompanied by a nearly unbearable creaking sound.  
  
"Nice to see you two," said Siefer Almasy as he stepped through the opening. The mere sight of him filed a rage the likes of which she had never felt before.  
  
"You bastard!" yelled Sonya, as she ran at Siefer. She spun around with to kick him, but he blocked it without even moving. She then tried to punch him in the face, but he blocked that too. Sonya tried to deliver as many blows as she could, but al of them were either blocked or dodged. Suddenly, as though tired of his game, Siefer grabbed her arm and twisted it around her neck, so she couldn't move.  
  
"I could kill you now, but I need you to much. Now sit down," he growled, throwing Sonya back onto the bed.  
  
"Why are you here, Siefer," asked Rinoa as she moved gracefully over to her daughter to see how she was.  
  
"I wanted to know if your room was to your liking," he said.  
  
"Actually, I was thinking it could use a few more windows," replied Sonya.  
  
"Too bad. I know you two would escape. Can't let you do that." Suddenly, he turned and walked out of the room.  
  
"You can put it away, Thompson, I'm not dangerous." Jace glared at him, his eyes glinting dangerously.  
  
"Yeah, killing people tends to prove that," he replied.  
  
"That was business."  
  
"So that fact that he put you into a mental home didn't mean anything to you."  
  
"Well," said Hernandez, smiling, "That was an added perk." Squall laid his hand on Jace's sword, and gently pushed it down. Jace let him, and let it rest on the ground, but didn't put it away.  
  
"So you're our contact?" asked Squall.  
  
"Yup. I was working for Siefer Almasy. It was him who ordered me to kill Jackson. After that, he started doing a lot of shit, so when he sent me here to pick something up, I contacted you."  
  
"Why?" asked Jace.  
  
"He was doing things that I didn't like. I can kill, I've done it before, but kidnapping was never in the job description."  
  
"So what do you have for us?" asked Zell.  
  
"Well, I..." Hernandez's voice trailed off.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Jace. In a blur of motion, Hernandez grabbed his guns out and aimed them right at Jace's head, without even giving him a chance to move.  
  
"Duck," he said. Jace dropped to the ground as Hernandez opened fire, pulling the triggers on the guns so fast that it seemed like they were M- 16's. Jace turned around and saw about twenty men across the other side of the square, moving all over the place, dodging Hernandez's bullets. Suddenly, they all started firing back. Jace jumped up, making sure he was in the firing line of Hernandez, and brought hi sword up. He swung his sword to lock the first bullet, but missed and it caught him in the forearm. The flames erupted once again from Jace's eyes, fueled by the latent anger surrounding the Sonya part of his mind. He Squall and Zell grab a gun ach from Hernandez's waistband, and start firing, so Jace decided to take up defense. He started moving around in front of each man, dodging their bullets back, and started swinging his sword all over the place, knocking the bullets from the other men back at them. With Squall, Zell, and Hernandez each picking at the men from behind the shield of Jace's sword, their assailants were quickly dispatched. When the last man had fallen, Hernandez put his guns away, and walked over to one of the men and started going through his pockets.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Squall, walking up behind Hernandez, his gunblade still in his hand.  
  
"Trying to figure out who sent these idiots," replied the other man. He found and opened a wallet from the mans jacket pocket. "I just figured it out."  
  
"Well who?" asked Squall.  
  
"Victor Sentaro's organization," said Jace, coming up behind them.  
  
"How did you know that?" asked Zell.  
  
"The man who took over Sentaro's operation didn't change his roster of thugs, and this guy has been there since I took Sentaro in."  
  
"That's just speculation, though," said Squall.  
  
"I agree with Thompson," said Hernandez.  
  
"I don't care. Let's just get back to the Ragnorak," replied Squall.  
  
"Wait, he's not going on that ship," said Jace. "I don't trust him."  
  
"He just saved our lives," replied Zell.  
  
"And he our only source of information at the moment," said Squall. Jace turned around and walked over to Hernandez.  
  
"You make one wrong step and I'll introduce your throat to my sword, got it?" said Jace. Hernandez nodded, gulping visibly.  
  
"Okay. Let's move," said Squall, turning and walking out the entrance of the town. 


End file.
